Category: Mind Control Techniques

Sacred Science & Mormonism: A Post-Cult Perspective on Recovery, at Conference on Religious Trauma 2022 (CORT) – Slides

Here are the slides for my talk at CORT 2022 (Conference on Religious Trauma): Sacred Science & Mormonism: A Post-Cult Perspective on Recovery

Elder Jackson’s “Culture of Christ” is a Culture of White Supremacy

“We can cherish the best of our individual earthly cultures and be full participants in the eternal culture that comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Elder William K. Jackson,October 2020 General Conference The most backhanded compliment-insult combos start out with a Big But. And in this talk called The Culture of Christ (delivered at …

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Mormon Stories Slides & Video Links

The slides for my 5-part presentation on Mormon Stories can be found here: Part 1: The Cogs of the Machine Part 2: The Trap is Sprung Part 3: Control Your Own Thoughts Part 4: Putting on the Pressure Part 5: Emotional Control The full series on YouTube: Mormon Stories 1443: Recovering Agency Pt. 1 – …

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Consolidated Analyses of LDS Manipulation

I’ve created a number of blog posts and videos analyzing line-by-line the mind control and manipulation in LDS General Conference Talks and articles. Here you can find links to all of them in one place. It first may help to have an idea of the named manipulation techniques used by cults and high-demand groups. They …

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Digging Through Trash: Symbols in Tyler Glenn’s (ex)Mormon Music Video

A demon makes a contract with a Catholic Bishop

This week, rockstar Tyler Glenn will launch his new solo album, “Excommunication.” As a teaser, he has already released two music videos, Shameless, and the highly symbolic and controversial exmormon coming-out video, Trash. You can take three minutes to watch it now. I recommend full screen. We exmormons have never had an anthem before. Not officially. …

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New Mormon LGBT Policy Promotes Child Abuse in God’s Name

I'm not.

This is perhaps the biggest moment in all the history of Mormonism. Most definitely in my lifetime. Whatever comes, however this is handled, the fallout from the news that leaked on Thursday will ripple down to generations to come. For those who don’t know, the Mormon Church changed their official policy for how to handle …

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Elder Uchtdorf’s Spiritual Abuse:
“Be Not Afraid, Just Tune Out All Opposing Signals”

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

When I first heard Elder Uchtdorf’s Saturday morning talk during the October 2015 General Conference, I had high hopes it signaled a movement toward a kinder, gentler LDS Church. I hoped that some combination of pressures from public critical voices, the mass exodus of fleeing member, and Uchtdorf’s sincerely held Christlike outlook on the Mormon …

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Sunstone Slides, The Cogs of Dissonance and Consonance: The Levers of Control in LDS Doctrine

Cogs of Dissonance Slide

Many people requested copies of the slides after my presentation at Sunstone Symposium last week, entitled The Cogs of Dissonance and Consonance: The Levers of Control in LDS Doctrine. Click for the full slide deck. Audio of the talk is currently available for free at Sunstone’s website. Or you can purchase a hardcopy.      

The BITE Model and Mormon Control Released on Kindle!

The BITE Model and Mormon Control

The article I wrote ten years ago, based on Steven Hassan’s BITE Model of cult control, is now an ebook! I updated it and added more content and it is now available on Kindle for your reading convenience. The original is still available for free right here on this website. If you’d like the new, …

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Feeling the Spirit as a Secular Mormon
Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Spirit

Many of the highly-promoted interpretations of LDS doctrines are divisive, shame-inducing, and thought-stopping in nature, as I’ve described in my book, Recovering Agency. But what if there is a more loving, inclusive, mind-freeing, self-actualizing way to interpret some of those same doctrines that increases free agency rather than restricts it? Wouldn’t such an interpretation be …

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